EU-wide patent plan stalls over translation issues again

Patents covering all of the European Union are expensive because patent applications and claims must be translated into all of the EU's languages.

Companies may translate them into fewer languages but the patent will be valid only in countries into whose language it has been translated.

Many attempts have been made to create a more affordable pan-EU system. The latest is a Commission proposal was that a patent should take effect across the EU if it is published in only one of the EU's three official languages: English, French or German. The patent's claims must be translated into all three.

Under the proposal, automatic translations would provide approximate versions of the patent in the other languages of the EU. If there is a dispute about the patent then the company behind the patent may be required to produce a translation into the language of the country in which the dispute takes place or the language of the other party to the dispute.

"High quality machine translations of EU patents into all official languages of the EU should be made available," said a statement from the European Commission in July announcing the proposal. "Inventors in Europe will therefore have better access to technical information on patents in their native language."

EU ministers have refused to back the proposal, though, amidst reports that Spain and Italy are unhappy at the advantage it will give to UK, French and German companies filing patents.

The Competitiveness Council of the EU Council of Ministers said (19-page / 124KB PDF) that it could not back the current Commission proposal, though it supported the idea of a cheap, EU-wide patent system.

A statement following a meeting of the Competitiveness Council said that "a very large majority" of the Council's members supported a document adopted before the meeting as a template for further negotiation (9-page / 106KB PDF) with the Commission.

That document said that "the Council considers the proposal from the Commission for a Council Regulation on the translation arrangements for the European Union patent to be capable of achieving [its] objectives if the following elements are added to it".

It went on to list demands that the Commission provide and support the means of creating high quality automatic translations of material; that any patent system allow companies to file EU-wide patents in their own language and compensate them for translation costs into the EU's official languages; and that changes are made to the way the system deals with patents that have not yet been granted.

The EU Presidency, currently held by Belgium, said that this proposal was its attempt to find "a balanced solution acceptable to all delegations".

The meeting of the Competitiveness Council decided that there were 'red lines' which, if crossed, meant that no deal with the Commission would be possible.

"A large majority of delegations underlined that the red lines for finding a final compromise are that no significant costs should arise from additional translations and that the new system should not result in legal uncertainty," said a Council statement.